American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1926)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Eight AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER November, 1926 Amateur Cinematography A Professional's Notes for Amateurs By J. A. Dubray, A.S.C. First of Series of Articles Presented in a Manner Easy for Amateur to Comprehend The study of "optics" in general has been the source of the publication of a great quantity of excellent works dealing with this subject. The different branches of this science, of which photographic optics is one, have been the cause of further augmenting of the number of these publications. The work of research in the maze of infor mation thus given is so laborious that the beginner is rarely able or willing to put forth the necessary time involved. It is the aim of the writer of this series of articles, of which this is the first, to give the reader a clear understanding of "How Light Works," eliminating as much as possible the confusion of too many technical expressions a? found in the text books. To the members of the "Junior Cameramen's Club" and to the sincere amateur in photography are these articles cordially and fraternally dedicated. "Light is God, God is Light/" said the mystic, and that was all. "Hail Holy Light/ Offspring of Heaven's First Born," said the poet, and that was all. "Light is a Stimulus that Acts on Organisms and Causes a Sensation/" said the philosopher, and that was about all. "Light is the Agent or Force, by the Action of Which Upon the Organs of Sight Objects from Which it Emanates are Rendered Visible!" said the lexicologist, and that also was all. "Light, is all of that!' said the scientist, but for him, that was not all. It was merely the starting point from which to wrestle from it its secrets, the reasons for its behavior, to understand it, so that through this understanding he could make use of its properties for the benefit of mankind. The origin of things is, at times, of secondary importance to the scientist. "When the thing exists, study it!" science says. "Studv it; learn to know it; and through this knowledge you may approach the origin, but even if this origin shall forever remain in the realm of the metaphysical conception of things, you will have made use of the thing -you will have put it to the work for which it was originated." And so, considering light as a thing, science set to work. The different sources of light are : the sun ; the fixed stars; heat; electricity; chemical combinations; meteoric phenomena; phosphorescence. The origin of the light of the sun and stars is unknown, but it is assumed that these bodies are enveloped by ignited gases, whose tremendously high temperature produces light. This being true — and the comparison of light eminated by the sun and stars with light produced by heat corroborates this supposition— if this be true, we say, we shall class their light with the light produced by heat. Increased It has been ascertained that non-luminous bodies, placed in the dark, begin to become visible when their temperature is raised 500 to 600 degrees, and their luminosity increases with the increasing of the temperature. Chemical Light, produced by chemical combinations, is also due to the degree of temperature developed and temperature is the factor of most of the electric lights used for illumination. As these are the sources of light most used in photography, we will pass with silence the )ther sources and refer the reader to numerous and special literature on the subject if he desires to extend his knowledge that far bevond our present scope. Motion Of Light The sources of light being established, various attempts have been made to explain the motion of light, that is, to explain the way in which light travels from the luminous body to our eye, whether this body be the most distant visible star, the sun, or a small incandescent splinter of wood. Of all the suppositions advanced as an explanation of this phenomena, the "undulatory theory" announced by the Dutch mathematician, Huyghens, in 1678, is generally acceot (Continued on Page 161